Paterson man held on $1M bail in shooting outside restaurant

PATERSON — City police say they have arrested a 24-year-old man and charged him with attempted murder and weapons offenses in connection with a shooting that happened outside a popular South Paterson restaurant in December.

The suspect, Jioni Rosado of Paterson, also faces weapons and drug charges in a separate case in which he was arrested in June, according to authorities.

Rosado was apprehended on Saturday when patrol officers David Findlay and Michael Quinones spotted him near the corner of Highland and Sparrow streets in the 4th Ward, said Lt. Patrick Murray, head of the CeaseFire unit.

Rosado had been identified as a suspect in the December shooting based on an investigation conducted by detectives Francisco Brito and Dave Tanis, Murray said.

Rosado is accused of shooting a 21-year-old man multiple times just after the victim left Al Safa Restaurant at about 5 a.m. on Dec . 28, police said. The victim, whose name has not been released, had just gotten inside his car, police said.

Authorities say the shooting may have stemmed from a previous altercation between the two men.

Rosado is being held on $1 million bail.

In June, Passaic County sheriff’s detectives had arrested Rosado and two other men — 21-year-old Julio Vasquez of Paterson and 22-year-old Pablo Lopez of Passaic — after residents complained that they were smoking marijuana in a parked car in the 3rd Ward, police said. The sheriffs also found a stolen handgun and illegal hollow point bullets in the vehicle, authorities said.